CONTRIBUTED — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has received information that a new scam is now circulating in the local area that involves the targeting of registered sex offenders.

The scam involves someone pretending to be a law enforcement officer from a local agency to an individual who is listed on the registry to inform them they are non-compliant. Scammers ask for the unsuspecting individual to go to a store and obtain a money card such as pre-paid Visa Vanilla Card or a Green Dot Card and then make payments over the phone in order to prevent the issuance of a warrant for their arrest.

Scams which involve making payments over the phone with pre-paid money cards are common among the region and often involve a wide range of stated reasons. Examples include owed money to the IRS, missing a court date, or failing to appear for jury duty.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office does not solicit payments of any kind over the phone and reiterates that if you receive a call like this, do not give any information or make any payment to the caller.

For more information on this and other types of scams, visit the Federal Trade Commission website at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts